Karl Küpper

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Memorial plaque for Karl Küpper at the house in Kalker Hauptstr. 215 in Cologne-Kalk.

Georg Karl Küpper (born November 2, 1905 in Düsseldorf , † May 26, 1970 in Cologne ) was a handmade paper speaker at the Cologne Carnival . As "r D'Verdötschte" ( Kölsch a crazy, confused, clumsy person) occurring Küpper is one of the few German carnival, which openly opposed the Nazis positioned and in their programs satirized .

life and work

From 1927, the trained book printer went to “die Bütt” as a sideline during the carnival and made a name for himself as a speaker at the carnival meeting . While the official carnival and its protagonists largely came to terms with National Socialism under the Nazi dictatorship , Küpper subtly but openly exhibited his distanced attitude towards the Nazi regime on the carnival stage.

Initially, Küpper was still involved in entertainment programs on the Nazi-controlled radio, but later discontinued this with the reason “Die dunn do always su comical, Hello 'roofe” - an allusion to the Hitler salute . He also used the Hitler salute expected by the National Socialists for an often-quoted number on the carnival stage: He stepped on the stage, raised his right arm and, to the surprise of the audience, said: "Su huh suffered from dirt in our cellar!" with us the dirt in the cellar! ". Or he asked, raising his hand, if it was raining: "Is there an eyebrow?"

The ban on speaking was lifted in 1944 by the NSDAP Gauleitung Cologne-Aachen

Because of his popularity, despite his oppositional stance, he was still invited to large meetings. In 1939, however, he was banned from speaking for life under the Treachery Act for the contempt of the German greeting and Nazi dignitaries and organizations. He disregarded it, although at times he had to report to the Gestapo every day . To avoid the threat of arrest, he finally reported for service in the Wehrmacht . There he was used in the front theater after his ban on speaking had been lifted.

Back from an American captivity , Küpper soon appeared again in Cologne as a handmade paper speaker. In addition to the conditions under the occupation , he continued to target National Socialism and current politics in the post-war period, but also dealt with non-political issues. In general, he never saw himself as a resistance fighter , but as a carnivalist who, with a subversive Rhenish mentality, went to the limits of freedom of fools .

post war period

Grave site (The date of death of Karl Küpper is incorrectly stated.)

In 1952, in his speech "D'r verdötscht Funk-Reporter", he again showed the Hitler salute: "Et eß ald widder am rähne!" With this he alluded to the risk of old elites influencing the content of the carnival speeches - in fact, for example, won Thomas Liessem , whose statements and attitudes towards the post-war carnival were certified as being consistent with his relevant role before 1945, regained influence in the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee . After Küpper in his speech, the reparation claims of German refugees had made fun of, decided both the festival committee Cologne Carnival and the citizens' committee Cologne Carnival , the latter in a led ironically by Liessem session, a de facto banned from performing for Kuepper, by refusing his "gaffes" and advised against the member societies from engaging him as a speaker.

Regardless of this, Küpper celebrated z. Sometimes with defused speeches, in the 1950s great success as a hand-made speaker. The Hänneschen Theater in Cologne had him perform as a stick puppet in 1953.

In 1960 Küpper ended his stage career and subsequently ran a restaurant in Cologne-Kalk .

Karl Küpper died in 1970 at the age of 64 in a hospital in Kalk. He had been with Sofie Katharina born in 1941. Hüsgen married. The couple's grave is located in the Melaten cemetery (hall 69 A).

Honors and memories

Karl-Küpper-Platz

Küpper was named Germany's best carnivalist in 1938, but was banned from speaking in January 1939. Later he learned how he was bitterness in the last years of his life, never an official honor from the city of Cologne or Cologne carnival societies for his upright anti-Nazi attitude.

After his death, Karl Kuepper was among others on the Stunksitzung and the comedian Jürgen Becker cited and the huh AG ass honored. His son Gerhard made speeches, poems and pictures from the estate available for a publication by the historian Fritz Bilz in the Kalker Geschichtsverein , which paid tribute to the carnivalist in detail for the first time. The Cologne NS Documentation Center in the EL-DE House shows a contribution to Karl Küpper during the Nazi era in its media stations. In an exhibition “Kölle Alaaf under the swastika” in 2011, his speech “Reporters from Abyssinia” from the mid-thirties was repeated. Since November 2012, the Cologne Carnival Museum has been showing a showcase with memorabilia from the estate of the Bütten speaker as part of its permanent exhibition.

In 2011 a memorial plaque was put up in memory of Küpper on Kalker Hauptstrasse 215, the house in which he had run a restaurant for ten years. In May 2011, a square in Cologne's old town on the corner of Salomonsgasse and Marspfortengasse was named after him. Originally, the Kalk district also wanted to name a square after Küpper. He is considered one of the few popular entertainers in Germany who openly opposed National Socialism.

A request from the Cologne AfD council group, on the 50th anniversary of Karl Küpper's death in 2020, in addition to the erection of a memorial, a Karl Küpper Prize for the best political hand-made speech of the session with prize money of 11,111 euros from the project funding “Antiracism Training “Was rejected by a large majority in the Council. In addition to Mayor Henriette Reker , Karl Küpper's son, Gerhard Küpper, had vehemently opposed this initiative. His father fought the “predecessor party” of the AfD, “that's what I want to call it”, the NSDAP , “down to the knife”, and that at the risk of his life. "And it is precisely these people [...] who want to put him on the plate, in order to distract from their own goals in a certain way."

Regardless of this, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in his honor on May 26, 2020 on the 50th anniversary of Küpper's death in Gürzenich, Cologne . A Karl Küpper Prize worth 10,000 euros is also planned to be awarded annually. This should (if the COVID-19 pandemic permits) be awarded for the first time in November 2020 to people who are committed to the protection of democracy and against racism, anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination. The initiators of the award were the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee and the friends and supporters of Cologne customs . A five-member jury consisting of Mayor Henriette Reker , Bernhard Conin, Chairman of the Friends and Supporters of Cologne Customs , Festival Committee President Christoph Kuckelkorn , Werner Jung , Director of the NS Documentation Center Cologne and a representative of the Küpper family, will determine the winners. ( As of 2020) .

literature

  • Karl Küpper: Karl Küpper as "Dr Verdötscht". 20 selected hand-made speeches and lectures by the award-winning Rhenish carnival artist. Milles Verlag, Cologne 1953.
  • Hermann Rheindorf: Cologne fool with exceptional status. In: TAZ . Cologne, February 5, 2004, p. 4.
  • Werner Jung : Modern Cologne . 6th edition. Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1861-1 , p. 134.
  • Fritz Bilz: Unadjusted and rebellious - the Cologne carnivalist Karl Küpper . 1st edition. Edition Kalk, 2010, ISBN 978-3-935735-08-7 .
  • Volker Kühn (Ed.): Germany's Awakening: Cabaret under the swastika; 1933-1945 . Volume 3. Weinheim: Quadriga, 1989 ISBN 3-88679-163-7 , p. 378 (short biography).

Web links

Commons : Karl Küpper  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Death certificate No. 1255 from May 27, 1970, registry office Cologne East. In: LAV NRW R civil status register. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ verdötsch translation into German in the Kölsch dictionary. Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Online dictionary of the academy for us Kölsche Sproch. Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Fritz Bilz: Unadjusted and rebellious - The Cologne carnivalist Karl Küpper . 1st edition. Edition Kalk, 2010, ISBN 978-3-935735-08-7 , p. 105.
  5. ↑ Bilz, pp. 106-107.
  6. ↑ Bilz, p. 116.
  7. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Karl Küpper
  8. ↑ Bilz, p. 126.
  9. ↑ Anneliese Fikentscher: Su huh suffered from the dirt in the basement! Redesign of the NS Documentation Center in Cologne. In: Online flyer NRhZ from June 3, 2009 (with greeting picture) (accessed December 2010)
  10. ↑ Kersten Knipp: Jew hatred von der Bütt: The exhibition "Kölle Alaaf under the swastika" , Deutschlandfunk, November 19, 2011
  11. ↑ Oliver Görtz: A man with humor and moral courage. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. November 22, 2012, p. 25.
  12. ^ Christian Bauer: Kölner Karneval: Kölner Büttenredner Karl Küpper gets his own area in the Cologne Carnival Museum, report-k.de, November 21, 2012
  13. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau. April 8, 2011, KStA 14./15. May 2011.
  14. ↑ Karl Küpper Platz - honoring a resister. In: afd.koeln. November 8, 2019, accessed November 9, 2019 .
  15. ↑ a b Andreas Damm: "Slap in the face": AfD application rejected - no memorial for deceased hand-made speakers. In: ksta.de. November 8, 2019, accessed November 8, 2019 .
  16. ^ Resistance fighter Karl Küpper - family rejects AfD initiative. Retrieved on May 26, 2020 (German).
  17. ↑ Andreas Wyputta: Carnival legend and Nazi opponent: Cologne slows down the AfD. In: taz.de . November 8, 2019, accessed November 9, 2019 .
  18. ^ Büttenredner Karl Küpper: A role model for moral courage - until today. In: report-k.de. May 26, 2020, accessed May 26, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Küpper, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Küpper, Georg Karl (full name); Dr Verdötscht (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Büttenredner (Cologne), who openly positioned himself against the National Socialists
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1970
Place of death Cologne